Matariki celebrations often begin in the last quarter of the Tangaroa phase of the lunar calendar, and this includes planning and preparations for whāngai i te hautapu or hautapu for short.
This is when food, usually sourced from the local environment, is cooked to honour the rising of Matariki and to show thanks for all that the environment has given us.
A traditional hautapu would be a hāngī or umu containing specific kai associated with stars within the Matariki cluster.
For example, the star known as Waitī is associated with freshwater, so watercress and fish sourced from lake or river is suitable for honouring this star. The star Tupuānuku is associated with food grown directly from the earth, so foods such as kūmara, potatoes or beans are suitable.
A traditional hāngī or umu is made through fire-heated stones, either in a pit dug into soil (hāngī) or in warmer areas on top of the ground (umu).
When the rocks are hot enough, food is placed on them.
A key skill when arranging the food is to have those items which require the most cooking in the hottest part, close to the rocks, and softer vegetables on top, either in baskets or wrapped in leaves or cloth.
It is then covered, usually with leaves and soil, and now cloth and foil are also used to help keep the heat and steam in and soil off the food.
Experience and skill are crucial to knowing when to carefully open the hāngī/umu.
When Matariki rises pre-dawn there are karakia (prayers) and this is when the names of the recently departed will be called into the night sky.
Immediately following this, and before the rising of the sun, the covers will be lifted from the umu and the steam will rise upwards towards the stars.
This is umu kohukohu whetu, when the stars are fed by the steam from the kai.
This "giving back" signifies thanks for the previous year’s bounty and hope for abundance in the new season.
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